The horrible Google Suggest feature (now even worse because it’s started including “Sponsored links in suggestions”) returns in the long-awaited Firefox 3.5 final, now available for download. That’s because the FF Blocksite addon, previously so useful for rooting out Google Suggest, does not work in 3.5.
Search veterans who want to turn off Google Suggest should instead use the Adblock Plus addon. In Options / My Adblocking Rules, simply block the domain…
clients1.google.com
This is the server that handles Google’s suggestion keywords. Treating it as adware — which indeed it has now become — turns off Suggest.
Another option is to click the search icon in firefox to select other search engines. Then click “manage search engines”. When you select “Google” there is a check box in the bottom of this screen “Show search suggestions”. Simply uncheck this.
Thanks for the tip. It appears to work for the top right-hand search-engines box integrated into Firefox, but it doesn’t work for the Google front page.